The Little Yellow Door

What a great place. Young cool fresh and trendy. We all loved the amazing food. Thank you so much

A short walk from Notting Hill Gate station is a little yellow door, a bright narrow pane hidden between a boutique clothes shop and a tacky tourist store. Number 68, Notting Hill Gate (what a superb coincidentally rhyming address) is home to a few friendly flatmates who have transformed their flat share into a now permanent pop-up restaurant and bar. Taking the foodie scene by storm, The Little Yellow Door is open to anyone up for an informal bite to eat in a casual, house party vibe.

London is an ever-evolving beast of a city. It moves at 100mph and if you don’t keep up with it, you can easily miss all the new openings around the city. Every week, my inbox is flooded with newsletters filled with news of a new restaurant concept, a must-see pop-up, an exciting new collaboration, bars, drinks…it can be quite overwhelming at times.

Often, many great places slip though the net as I can’t physically get to (or afford) every new venture, and inevitably even more places launch and the list gets longer and longer.

One such place is The Little Yellow Door, one of London’s longest standing pop-up bars, based around the story that five friendly ‘flatmates’ welcome you into their cosy West London home, bookable through WhatsApp. Situated just a stone’s throw from Notting Hill Gate tube station, they opened their Little Yellow Door in October 2014 and it quickly became a destination pop-up, with queues regularly snaking down Notting Hill Gate. I’m not a fan of queuing so at the time I thought I’d wait for the hype to die down a bit and then I’d go. But of course, so many other places opened over that time and it went out of my head.

Then a couple of weeks ago I was invited to a housewarming party to welcome in their newest American housemate, Hank, and celebrate the extension of their lease. In true American style, they put on a supperclub serving up dishes such as pulled beef shin, New England Clam chowder, truffled mac ’n’ cheese and Bourbon milkshake shots. How could I refuse?

There's nothing more fun than eating at a pop up - every time is something different so you never quite know what to expect. I love them so much that I started doing my own one just over a year ago, and when I was invited to The Little Yellow Door in Notting Hill for an evening of drinks, bloggers and food by The Wandering Chef I couldn't resist.I arrived at The Little Yellow Door - which is just that, on the wettest, windiest Wednesday for a while and was practically blown up the stairs when the door opened. Regaining my composure, my coat was taken and I was given a block of lego in return which would be exchanged for my first drink of the evening. The Little Yellow Door is a licensed premises, set out like someone's living room. There's an eclectic mix of furniture and art around the room, which has 2 long tables at one end, the bar at the other, and a huge projector halfway down the room playing The Big Lebowski. Menus are hidden inside magazines which cover the coffee tables at the bar end of the room. We were warmly welcomed in by the "flatmates" who made sure we had everything we needed including our first drink - The Libertine - an Earl Grey infused gin, lemon, gomme and egg white cocktail served in a china teacup that was a strong as it was sharp, and utterly delicious. This was swiftly followed with a house punch, an ever changing recipe served out of a huge silver urn on the bar. Last Wednesday's was a fruity and refreshing concoction. No sooner had I said hi to London blogger Angie who had organised the night, than it was time to take our seats for the meal. The Little Yellow Door is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and though we were there on a Wednesday, we had the "Friday night experience" - where drinks are served and food is a feast of a meal at the tables, before the room is transformed for the after party. You need to book in advance to eat there and tickets are available here. Thursdays and Saturdays focus more on drinking than eating, but TLYD are launching a weekly Wednesday night mid-week dinner from the 11th February.So time for the food - I don't know what I was expecting but for some reason I didn't think I would be bowled over by the food (and I also didn't know beforehand that it was The Wandering Chef)- I stand corrected! The food was seriously good, and the Italian feast we were served went something like this:Starters were platters of burrata with mint pesto, cured tomatoes, smoked aubergine, confit onions and rye crisps; prosciutto, lardo, peach, basil and almonds; smoked beef carpaccio, mustard dressing, crispy capers  and salted ricotta - my favourite of the starters, I can't get enough of capers!; and arancini of mushroom and asparagus with truffle and porcini mayonnaise. This set the tone of the evening - fabulous ingredients, cooked perfectly that packed a massive flavour punch.

What a fun place to go to on a Friday or Saturday night. The music is excellent if you like old school cheese. The food is good (especially the arancini and also the cheese toast, the latter of which was more like a camembert dip). The focus however is more on drinking - cocktails are absolutely divine as are the signature passion fruit shots. Would rush back!

I had a brunch party for my birthday at the flatmate's denn. I really felt stress-free as everything was super organized and the staff was super friendly! Food was good, atmosphere/venue is super great and comfy. I would certainly recommend the little yellow door for a birthday celebration!

Amazing cocktails, fantastic service! I really loved our time here and would throughly recommend. We didn’t eat so can’t comment on the food but if it is as good as their cocktails then it would fab! Special mention to Kwame for great, friendly service ! Thank you 😊

I celebrated my birthday here last week and the place was great. We reserved a table area which was the perfect size for our party, the music was brilliant and the staff (especially Kat) on the night and over email were incredibly helpful with the booking. We will be back.

Wasn't entirely convinced by DJ on 19/8/23 but then again everyone has their own taste! I would however say the service was excellent. My friend cut her foot on some glass on the floor and the staff were straight over to help treat it. Very impressed with their diligence. Cheers guys!

I visited the little Yellow door frusta evening for Vittoria’s birthday. I didn’t expect to have such a great time. Would suggest to my friend. Great food, food cocktails and such a nice vibe. William be back. Special mention to Frank, Cece, Rids and Chanel. See you soon flatmates!